togo123

About to purchase 2014 CLA 250.. Backed out last minute because of cracked plastic

• After the final test drive, I opened the hood and discovered two issues.
  EDIT: This picture is a stock engine bay taken off google, I am using it as reference.
  1) The plastic housing circled in red was cracked on the back side.. it appears it was melted at one point? Upon touching it the crack caved in and plastic fell into the plastic housing. It was a large amount of plastic. Can this cause damage? What is this piece? Its some type of air intake, but not the engine air intake?
  2) The yellow circle showed a thick and crusty residue left over. The salesmen told me it was a previous leak, that has been fixed but wasn't cleaned. I believe it, since it wasn't wet in any place. Just a thick crusty blue-ish material. He couldn't tell me what the leak was though. What was leaking there? What are those tubes?

Mr. Toad

I don't own a CLA, but I'm pretty certain the part you've identified in red is the air intake that routes to the engine air filter box over on the right (driver) side of the engine bay. I'm sorry that I can't make out the part identified in yellow.

Forgive me for sharing an opinion that you didn't solicit, but I encourage you to pass on the CLA and look into a C-Class or higher model. I've read a number of reviews of the CLA and recently drove a 2018 CLA 250 myself for about a week as a loaner from my dealer service department, and my personal experience reflected the general review consensus: the CLA is a second-rate car built with relatively cheap materials and masquerading as a Mercedes-Benz. I found virtually none of the attributes for which one purchases a Mercedes-Benz to be present in this car and I couldn't wait to get rid of it. Again, I know you didn't ask for opinions, but I'm always interested in hearing other people's experiences with products before I buy them.